May 17, 2017 - Beaver County has declared a State of Agricultural Disaster in response to extreme moisture conditions which have affected local producers. Agricultural Service Board members met earlier this month and made the recommendation to Council regarding a disaster.

“Beaver County Council supports our local producers and recognizes the challengesof the 2016 harvest which now places them in a tough situation for the 2017 season,” said Reeve Kevin Smook. “Although there has been an opportunity within the last 10 days to get in the fields, saturated soils and the current condition of crops have made for slow progress.”

“Producers have expressed many concerns about the state of their crops”, says Agricultural Fieldman Aimee Boese. “There is no question that the excessive moisture conditions have been a challenge and that producers will really need to examine their options for removing un-harvested acres and seeding in 2017.”

As of the May 9, 2017 Alberta Crop Report there were still 65% of un-harvested acres to be

removed in the North East Region, with 30% still in the Central Region. Also, due to the excessive moisture it has meant that approximately only 2.1% of acres have been seeded for 2017, compared with a 5 year average of 18.3% in the North East part of the province.

County Council issued the declaration of Agricultural Disaster to encourage the Provincial and Federal Governments to initiate necessary programs that can provide relief to producers. In the past, such relief has ranged from income tax deferral programs to Farm Disaster Assistance programs that could help with such matters.

The most recent Alberta Crop Report and options for un-harvested acres can be found on the Alberta Agriculture and Forestry website at http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca. Information pertaining to crop insurance is available at www.afsc.ca.